My husband and I booked flights on Allegiant Air from Bellingham to Las Vegas to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary on December 16th. The memory of our absolutely wonderful time in Las Vegas was replaced by the return flight. We were scheduled to depart from Las Vegas on Monday, December 17th at 4:10 pm. When we checked in at 2 pm and received our boarding passes nearly an hour later and then went through security, not once did Allegiant mention our flight would be delayed.

By our scheduled boarding time at approximately 3:30, we were still not told there was a problem. At about 4 pm the gate info was changed from Bellingham, Washington to McClellan. When we asked what was going on, we were told our flight was delayed and we would board next on another plane after the McClellan passengers were boarded. At this time, approximately 4 pm, our group started receiving text messages and phone calls from our friends and family that the Allegiant website was showing a six hour delay for our flight with an arrival time in Bellingham of close to midnight. The representative at Las Vegas insisted that yes there was a delay but it would not be six hours and we should check back in about an hour.

About an hour later we were finally told, after several of us irately informed the counter of exactly what was on their website, that our flight would be delayed for a few hours and we would board around 7 pm. We were given meal vouchers for 8.00 each in an airport where the cheapest meal, a sandwich, sells for close to ten dollars.

When we returned from our meal, we were told boarding would be at 8:30. We were given bags of chips and sodas. No coffee. No tea. We went to buy a cup of coffee.

When we returned for our 8:30 boarding, we were told a “rescue plane” had been sent to Fresno and would depart from there at 9 pm and would take about an hour to get there. An hour later, we still weren’t rescued and the website still listed an arrival in Bellingham around midnight. Even after several of us told the agents what was on the website, they refused to admit the information they had been giving us for hours was not true. They kept telling us to check back every half hour or so.

When our “rescue plane” finally arrived, it was clear we would not be arriving in Bellingham until way after midnight. We arrived home at close to 2 pm.

While I understand that problems do arise, it is clear that we were kept within the airport for Allegiant’s convenience so we would not leave and have to go through security again or try and book a flight on another airline. It is this deliberate lying by your agents that completely contradicted the information available on the website to anyone with an internet access that was most insulting. If we were told up front there would be a six hour delay as turned out to be exactly what the website state before 4 pm, then yes we would have cancelled our flight with Allegiant and booked with another airline.

My husband and I have flown to several countries and many states over the years. Never have we experienced such disrespect for the customers nor such outright lying. We are flying to Hawaii soon and had planned to go Allegiant. We will not be using your airline again, and the wedding party that will be part of our group have also selected another airline.

The final insult after an evening of lies and disrespect without even a cup of coffee, was finally boarding the plane tired and hungry only to be told if we wanted even a bottle of water, we’d have to pay for it.

Your company has lost the business of our party of over thirty people planning to fly to Hawaii soon, and the business of everyone we will ever talk to telling them never to fly Allegiant. By the time we added in the costs of paying for everything from carry-on, checked luggage, parking fees for an extra day because we arrived after midnight the 18th, cat sitter fees, and having to buy coffee plus supplement the pitiful meal allowance, Allegiant no longer was a good deal. It was, in fact, one of the most expensive options available.

This was our first time flying Allegiance and it will be our last. I will be sending a copy of this letter to the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention authority to let them know the negative impact your company has on the otherwise enjoyable and friendly tourist oriented services we enjoyed everywhere else. And we will also let the Whatcom council know exactly how badly an airline in their airport treats the customers. You should be ashamed of yourselves for taking our money and treating us so badly. The least you could have done was provide coffee for your stranded passengers. But that would have implied you cared and you clearly don’t.